A game to cut short (7)
I believe the answer is:
abridge
'cut short' is the definition.
(to abridge something is to make it shorter)
'a game' is the wordplay.
'game' becomes 'bridge' (card game).
'a'+'bridge'='ABRIDGE'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for abridge that I've seen before include "Crop" , "Shorten (a literary work)" , "prune?" , "trim" , "Condense, summarise" .)